Unique comprehensive rehabilitation of children with SMA diagnosis

HENDI CENTRUM provides comprehensive rehabilitation care for children with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA type I-IV) from all over Slovakia and neighbouring countries.

In addition to individual rehabilitation, the knowledgeable staff also provides expert advice in the areas of speech therapy, breathing exercises and medical devices. State-of-the-art equipment, a wide range of therapies and a team of specialists with a huge passion to motivate performance, make the HENDI CENTRE a place where SMA children and their parents love to return.

Gloria during rehabilitation in HENDI CENTRE

SMA diagnosis and treatment in Slovakia

SMA, spinal muscular atrophy, is an inherited disease of the nerves and muscles. It is characterized by the inability to sit, stand, walk, as well as other symptoms. It is a rare disease, but is a common cause of death in children. It has a prevalence of 1 child per 30 000. Four types of SMA are described in the literature. Slovakia was one of the first 10 European countries to start treating SMA patients in the summer of 2018. Significant treatment options for SMA have emerged in recent years that directly change the natural course of the disease and significantly improve motor and ventilatory abilities. Rehabilitation is an essential part of pharmacological treatment. With new medical treatments, new rehabilitation techniques have also been introduced in Slovakia. Rehabilitation has an irreplaceable role in the management of the SMA patient from diagnosis throughout life.

SMA diagnosis and rehabilitation

"Thephysiotherapists at the HENDI CENTRE are erudite in providing complex rehabilitation of children with SMA and in respiratory physiotherapy called respiratory handling. Due to the possibility of an individually constructed rehabilitation plan, they can completely adapt to each patient in terms of time and method and respect his/her possibilities. The team has ample time for the patient and their family, the room equipment is suitable for these diagnoses and they also offer the possibility of consulting a paediatric neurologist."

MUDr. Olga Boldišová,
child neurologist, paediatrician and specialist in the field of physiotherapy, balneology and medical rehabilitation, expert guarantor and consultant of HENDI CENTRE

The rehabilitation course for paediatric patients consists of the following therapies

(the composition of a specific rehabilitation plan is indicated on the basis of an initial medical consultation).

Medical consultation / examination
Intensive individual rehabilitation with a physiotherapy group
Facilitation balling
Oxygen Therapy
Inhalation
Therapeutic massage
Biolamp
Clinical speech therapy / Speech therapy
Special Education
Music therapy
Canisterapy
Hydrotherapy

How we work:

"When diagnosed with SMA, it is important to start rehabilitation as soon as possible, as the disease quickly gains momentum. We try to tone the muscles as much as possible to keep the child active. It is important to take a strictly individual approach to each child when exercising. We do not choose just one methodology, but combine several methodologies in the exercises. This is recommended everywhere in the world. We choose, for example, the Bobath method or sensory stimulation, which means exercising on different balancing platforms or swings. Each therapy is adapted to the child's possibilities and abilities. The rehabilitation stays are focused on mainly on therapy, but also consist of complementary therapies such as massage, speech therapy, oxygen therapy, biolamp, canister therapy, hydrotherapy, music therapy, art therapy. Children at an early age accept as a fact that rehabilitation is part of their daily programme. Around the age of three, children reach a stage when they become self-aware and their character begins to emerge. Most children stop enjoying exercise by then. Which on the one hand is natural, but on the other hand it makes our job more difficult. Here I would highlight our programme, where we always try to motivate the children to do something different, so that they don't fall into a stereotype and get stagnant. We have to constantly rotate resources to attract attention. We find out what the child enjoys."

Bc. Soňa Krchnáková
Head physiotherapist of the Department of the youngest children at HENDI CENTRE in Piešt'any

Rehabilitation alone is not enough

At the HENDI CENTRE, parents find a professional approach to therapy and receive valuable advice and recommendations on how to work with their child in the home environment.

Socialization and time spent among peers inevitably play an important role in a child's development. At the HENDI CENTRE we connect whole families and try to show that even children with disabilities can live a full life if they have the right conditions. The SUPER WEEKEND for super SMA children was an example that this is possible.
( click on the orange button below the photo gallery - Super Weekend)

Financial assistance

In the framework of the grant project Step for you in cooperation with Association for the Assistance to the Handicapped - APPA and the Novartis and Roche companies, the HENDI CENTRE has so far provided intensive rehabilitation for nearly 20 children in various stages of SMA. In the third year of this exceptional project, 16 paediatric and adult patients have received help in the form of rehabilitation in a specialised centre.